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Honda Recalls 700,000 Fits for the SECOND TIME for spontaneous fire risk

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My in-laws have a Fit, she bombarded us with every BS news story she could find regarding the Tesla fires, can't wait to see them tomorrow & tell them not to drive in the rain or get the car washed :smile:.

Lets see if this makes national news, pretty amazing its the second recall for the same problem.
 
Several years ago 14 million Fords - F150s, Econolines, Excursions, Explorers, Windstars, Rangers etc were recalled for something similar. There was a cruise control module that could catch fire spontaneously even when the car was parked. There were several home fires, and a couple of deaths.

Ford didn't make one big recall when the problem was found with the module. They waited until NHTSA discovered fire risk in each vehicle, then notified owners of the problem. I remember the recall on the pickups in 2005, and wondered if my Econoline had the same equipment. It did, they just waited as long as possible (2009!) to let me know that, hey, maybe I should park it outside so my family doesn't burn to death in the middle of the night. It took them a few months to get enough parts together to fix them.
 
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Toyota also got caught big with their poorly designed window switches. Even caused fires while driving!:
In October 2012, the Japanese automaker recalled 2.5 million vehicles nationally to fix a faulty power window switch that has been linked to at least nine injuries and several hundred reports of smoke and fire. In one instance reported to federal regulators, a passenger in a Camry was burned while trying to use a loose article of clothing to extinguish a fire caused by the switch.

Honda's it the funniest due to their double recall due to their failed attempt to fix it and their suggestion to park outside to prevent garage fires! Must explain part of their 9.9% sales drop, more than any other manufacutuer.

I won't even let Hondas or Toyotas park in my driveway, let alone the garage!!
 
Toyota also got caught big with their poorly designed window switches. Even caused fires while driving!:
In October 2012, the Japanese automaker recalled 2.5 million vehicles nationally to fix a faulty power window switch that has been linked to at least nine injuries and several hundred reports of smoke and fire. In one instance reported to federal regulators, a passenger in a Camry was burned while trying to use a loose article of clothing to extinguish a fire caused by the switch.
Let's be clear here. From looking at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM428112/RCDNN-12V491-7510.pdf, it doesn't seem to be a design problem. Please read page 4 thru 6. Unfortunately, the PDF is a bitmap, so I can't copy and paste the text.

Basically, there was some change in the application process of the grease lubricant in the window switches at the supplier due to a process change there. Unfortunately, the power window switch could become inoperative after that. And, then sometimes people add in lubricants (e.g. via a spray) in order to address the problem. That could cause overheating, smoke and/or fire.

The NHTSA recall campaign is 12V491000. You can search on NHTSA's site for more details and the accompanying documents, if you wish.
 
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